Recs for sunny hols by train from UK?

[EllatrixB]

Has anyone successfully taken the train for a ca. 10-day sunny hol and not felt like the travelling took up too much of the holiday? I'm thinking La Rochelle, or maybe Luxembourg (for lakes at least, if not the seaside - swimming is essential!)

I loved Biarritz but it's a long way down. Likewise the northern Spanish coast.

Maybe there's somewhere more eastwards that I'm missing?

The main motivation is to avoid airports and the non-fun of sitting on a cramped plane for three hours. Ideally we want somewhere sunny, but we could go in summer if not May half-term, and with good swimming available. Other than that we're open to suggestions.

I'll have a look on Seat61 but any recs from people who've done similar gratefully received...

Does it have to be train? What about ferry? For the cost of probably one ticket on the train, you can take a whole carload of people.

Thanks @mindutopia - we love a ferry and cross to France most summers but would like the idea of the train for this. There's four of us but two are kids under 12, which I think gets us cheaper Eurostar tickets for them at least.

You can get onward travel from Paris to most of France but will spend the best part of a day getting there and another day back. Depending on the time of year, anywhere south of the Loire will be sunny and warm from May to September. La Rochelle is a good shout as is the Loire - lots of lakes there. Would you be hiring a car when you get there?

I’ve got the train to Nice and Avignon before, long journey but good if you like trains!

I don't know about a car really - ideally we'd love a public-transport-only trip but don't know how feasible that would be, given limited annual leave!